


Gale Song

by WormholesandPegasus



Series: We Are Consumed By Fire [4]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: District 12 (Hunger Games), Gen, Not Beta Read, Peeta reflects, Peeta-centric, Post-74th Hunger Games, Pre-75th Hunger Games, Victory Tour (Hunger Games), no everlark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29418135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WormholesandPegasus/pseuds/WormholesandPegasus
Summary: The Interlude:In which Peeta has had a hard time adjusting to the life of a Victor. It seems everyone is against him. There isn’t much he can do. Yet.
Series: We Are Consumed By Fire [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772578
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Gale Song

**Author's Note:**

> Warning that this is really short. It is simply an interlude before more content in a few months. Hopefully mid April at the earliest.
> 
> I know it is incredibly ironic that I’m using Gale Song to describe Peeta.

The Victory Tour, something that is supposed to celebrate his survival, looks like it will go horribly.

See, Peeta knows he was not supposed to survive the games, no one is. Still even his own district seems to be against him. Katniss Everdeen—the one he hoped to prove himself to—avoids him like the plague. If that doesn't leave a sour taste in his mouth, nothing else will.

At least one place seems to not mind him. Of course that place had to be the Capitol. No matter what anyone says, he doesn't like it there. That being said, Katniss seems to.

She spends so much time there and so little at home. It's as if she was a citizen there at not of Twelve.

But Peeta won't tell her that. He doesn't want to make any more enemies than he already has. That is to say: he doesn't want to make any more victors mad.

The victors are different than any other people he has ever met. They are a team. They work with each other, keep secrets for each other, and fight for each other. But they have decided that he is the outsider. Maybe it's Katniss, or maybe it's her friends. He doesn't care any more. He's home. That's what matters.

Still. 

The victory tour is coming up in a few weeks and he has to prepare himself.

His stylist, Portia, has been working with him to determine his outfits for the tour. She doesn't want him to copy Katniss so they will be sticking to grey or black suits instead of her trademark red. Everything that Portia has designed for him is much better than anything he owns on his own.

That's going to change. His victory salary started coming in a week after the games. He should be using it to buy food, purchase clothes for appearances, run his official victor hobby, and help support the bakery.

Unfortunately, his mother has had other ideas. She's been doing her best to siphon money off of his salary for herself. If she had asked, he might have let her, but now he's adamant about keeping it.

All in all, Peeta has been drowning in his own stress over the last few months.

It takes a few days of calls and negotiations but Peeta and Portia decide on a three charcoal suits and a light gray jumpsuit. It’s a lot better than what he expected.

There are only a few things left to do on the list.

The first: prepping speeches for the tour with Effie Trinket.

If Peeta knows anything about Effie, it's that she is always prepared or preparing for something. For better or for worse, the woman never stops.

Even when he got in a fistfight with one of the other victors. It was the tall one from District Ten who won a few years ago. The one that always wears a leather jacket. He can't remember the guy’s name for the life of him. Something Peeta did during the games set him off. Something about family. He said a sentence or two to the guy and he blew up.

But never mind the reasons, what matters is Peeta got a black eye and a discrete trip to medical out of it. The vision of him circling around Peeta, seething, ready to strike remains burned into he retinas. It wasn't exactly his favorite moment in the Capitol. At least he knows to look out for a right hook every once in a while. Any type of gained experience is something after all.

What it means is that Peeta is done with making missteps and making people who are supposed to be his friends his enemies. So Peeta is glad he's getting Effie's help working on his Victory Tour speeches. He can use all the help he can get.

Despite this, Peeta finds Effie’s words passing from one ear to the other—straight through his head. Passing through, not really landing. Before long he finds himself sitting in the meadow, under a old cottonwood tree on the hill. His thoughtful place. And he only has a few things to think about.

Peeta sighs. He’s been doing that a lot more lately. Possibly because he’s been reflecting more.

When he survived the Games, he thought that his life couldn’t possibly get worse.

Well, he was wrong. So wrong.

One of the cottonwood seeds breezes past his nose.

He has to play the Capitol’s games. That is becoming more and more apparent the more he talks to Effie. But there’s nothing he can do about that. He doesn’t have a choice. His family’s lives are in the hands of the Capitol. So he must put on a show for them.

Nothing will get him to change his mind about it. His family matters most. In the town you can only trust your family to back you up.

He throws a rock down the hill. If only there was something he could do about it.

And he sighs again. 

He knows there isn’t.

The day of the departure comes much more quickly than he anticipated. The days come more quickly than before the Games.

There are a few people waiting it the platform. His brothers and his parents stand by the close bench. Effie and the victors stand in the back. She waves at him enthusiastically.

His mother sends him off with a few words, “Keep it together, we need this money.” As usual, her kindness shows through.

The artificial whistle blows on the platform, signaling it is time for loading. 

Haymitch boards first, likely looking for some alcohol. Katniss follows, after fixing him with a disinterested glare. 

He finds himself frozen for a minute, only for the whistle to blow a second time. The engineer is impatient today. In that time Effie has already boarded and flashed a bright smile at him.

Peeta takes a second to look back at his family. But only a second. He takes in a deep breath and steps off the platform.

**Author's Note:**

> So the victor that got in a fight with Peeta was Lorran from 10. It turns out the cattle farming district turns out some strong victors.
> 
> @ge33 I hope that scene was just enough for you. Peeta’s gotta stay alive for plot at the moment.
> 
> This is the only piece of the series that has a POV other than Katniss. The next book will return to her POV.


End file.
